Judge Rejects Plan to Settle Diet Drug Case

Published: September 28, 1999

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 27—
A Federal district judge has rejected a bid by Interneuron Pharmaceuticals for a $70 million nationwide settlement of lawsuits over its Redux diet drug, company officials said.

Judge Louis Bechtle found here that Interneuron's proposed resolution of claims by Redux users did not meet Supreme Court guidelines for such settlements. Redux was sometimes used as a component of the fen-phen diet drug combination.

Judge Bechtle's ruling comes as a lawyer for consumers continues talks with officials of the American Home Products Corporation on a $4.4 billion settlement of all fen-phen claims against the company, which sold the drug Pondimin as a fen-phen component. Judge Bechtle, who is overseeing more than 300 suits filed by dieters who used the now-discredited diet-drug combination, would also have to approve any settlement involving American Home.

In June, the Supreme Court curtailed the use of a legal tool intended to let companies limit their liability in class-action suits by rolling all potential plaintiffs into a single settlement and barring individuals from filing separate claims. Interneuron set up its $70 million plan to resolve Redux users' claims as such a ''limited fund'' settlement.

Redux users contend that Interneuron and American Home, which marketed the diet drug, knew that it caused heart problems for some users and sold it anyway.